The present invention relates to antenna mounting and, more particularly, to a universal ceiling antenna mount.
In commercial buildings with false or drop ceilings, installers of wireless devices must either locate the device and antennas above the ceiling tile, resulting in signal loss through the tile, or use dedicated signal purpose antennas, such as a single antenna often shaped similar to a smoke detector with a fixed frequency and other electrical characteristics. These fixed antennas are typically one antenna, often costly with no flexibility.
The primary two methods used currently in commercial drop tile ceilings is to either co-locate the antennas with the radio device above the ceiling or use fixed ceiling mounted antennas. In the event a new application for an antenna with a different frequency and radio frequency characteristics arises, a new expensive and fixed frequency-gain antenna must be installed. Costs dramatically increase when more than one antenna may be needed.
As can be seen, there is a need for a universal ceiling antenna mount that allows for multiple antennas of the same or different frequency and gain to be utilized on the mount providing flexibility and positioned to prevent signal loss.